Digital-Lifestyles

Digital-Lifestyles pre-empted and reported thousands of articles on the then-coming impact that technology was to have on all forms of Media. Launched in 2001 as a research blog to aid its founder, Simon Perry, present at IBC 2002, it grew into a wide ranging, multi-author publication that was quoted in many publications globally including the BBC, was described by the Guardian as 'Informative' and also cited in a myriad of tech publications before closing in 2009

  • Nokia Invests in Mozilla Mobile Browser Project

    Nokia has funded a new mobile phone browser project at Mozilla, giving a boost to the browser company and launching a new front in the battle for the mobile internet.

    Minimo is already at pre-alpha stage, and looks like it will be available by Autumn.

    Mozilla have had a stormy time in their six years or so of existence, including three mergers and a dwindling market share. However, their new product Firefox has been generating a lot of interest, though nine out of ten surfers still use Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

    This new browser is a big opportunity for Mozilla: the battle for the most popular mobile phone web browser is still to be won, particularly in the USA where cellphone internet browsing is nascent. Phone browsers have unique technical difficulties to surmount to make them useful – small displays, low bandwidth, less memory, less processing power. Yet despite these hurdles Microsoft, Opera, Fusion, NetClue and many others are fighting to make their own particular browser the market winner.

    Up until Firefox, Mozilla browsers were not known for their compact size and speed – their first effort drew howls of derision and claims of bloated code, and so everyone just went back to using IE or Safari.

    Hurt by all the shouts of “tubby” and “porker”, the 9mb Mozilla suite hid itself for a few months before appearing back on the scene after a makeover – and as the Firefox browser, it wowed critics with its svelt responsiveness and dedication to web standards, all in less than 5mb.

    To be in with a chance at winning the phone web browser beauty contest, Mozilla will have to get the chainsaw out and start slashing away at its codebase.

    Mozilla

    Nokia

  • Universal to Launch “New” CD Format

    When someone near the top at Universal Music asked in a meeting “Why are people buying less singles these days?” what do you suppose the answer was?

    Was it “Because the growth in DVDs and video games, which we also publish, mean that consumers are buying other, more expensive products instead, and so our profits are increasing anyway”?

    Was it “Because music download sites are increasing in popularity, so singles are now less relevant in the connected age. We license our music to online stores, so we’re still raking in the money – we should encourage downloading because we don’t have to manufacture, design and ship a product”?

    No, sadly, it looks like the answer was neither of these two well accepted facts. Insight and informed views kept their hands down that day, and chose instead to munch quietly on the chocolate Hob Nobs, dreaming of home time.

    Instead, it looks like someone with a history of dizzy spells, and perhaps head injuries, stuck their trembling hand up straight into the boardroom air and squeaked “Because the singles are too large and they don’t have enough ringtones on them.”Well, someone give that bright spark a promotion, because Universal plan to delay the inexorable slide of single sales by bringing out a “new” single format, based on one that died on its arse more than a decade ago, although with the tiniest of twists.

    The Pocket CD is the same size as CD singles were for a while in 1990, 8 cm, and carries codes for ringtones. That’s it – that’s how they imagine saving the CD single.

    Lucian Grainge, chairman and chief executive of Universal Music UK, predicts that his rivals are going to love the idea: “If it works, everyone else in the industry would be crazy not to join in.”

    Yes, they’d be crazy alright.

    The Pocket CD will be piloted in Germany and the UK, and Asda is expected to be one of the launch outlets.

    Universal Music

  • Dating on Demand

    Video on demand: reasonable state of health, no proven business model, WLTM  established internet commerce concept for  broadband fun, and maybe a bit of transactional  processing, apply at www.hurrydate.com

    I seem to be writing another of those “It had to happen” stories this week.

    Dating On Demand is launching this summer – in Philadelphia, of all places. A series of events will allow singles (or at least people claiming to be single) to record five minute video profiles which will then be available on demand on Comcast Digital Cable.

    Recording the profiles is free and even includes the services of professional television production crews. The profiles will be available to view free on cable and interested potential partners will be able to register anonymously through the HurryDate website.

    Interviews and features will attempt to draw out interesting glimpses into singles’ personalities and will even include video “bloopers” and tales of dating disasters. HurryDate operate a speed dating service and are hoping that this will expand their market somewhat.

    “This service is as close as you can get to meeting someone over a cup of coffee,” said Adele Testani, co-founder of HurryDate. Except with out the coffee, two way communication, body language and bare-faced lies, presumably.

    “Dating ON DEMAND adds a personal touch to meeting potential dates by presenting ‘real singles’ – how they move, how they speak, their true appearance. Best yet, it all happens in the comfort of your home with the touch of a remote control and the click of a mouse.” HurryDate are keen to point out in their press release that no extra equipment is needed.

    Is it me or does the name HurryDate add an extra air of desperation to the whole thing, like “Budget Bride”?

    HurryDate

    Budget Bride – Money Saving Wedding Solutions … I didn’t realise weddings were a problem

  • WiFi in Court

    Bored when waiting to be called as a witness? Need to brush up a bit on public decency laws before you get called into the dock? Then if you’re at one of the seven UK courts that have just rolled out public WiFi access, then you’re in luck.

    As a pilot that might lead to a national deployment, seven courts have installed BT Openzone WiFi access. Ostensibly to assist court staff in research and communications, the access points are open to the public too, and standard OpenZone pricing will apply (about UK£6, €9 for an hour).

    “The hot spots should enable lawyers to access information held at their offices or receive emails and have information sent to them while they are attending court,” said Lord Justice Thomas, the senior presiding judge of England and Wales.

    “When new points of law arise during the course of the hearing, they should be able to carry out the necessary research without leaving the building.”

    Obviously the service will not be available in the courts themselves.

    The pilot runs until 2006, and echo a similar WiFi trial in UK public library also announced this week.

    The Court Service

  • Copy-protected CD Reaches Top of US Chart

    A copy-protected CD has reached the top of the US album charts for the first time. Velvet Revolver’s “Contraband”, published by BMG uses the MediaMax copy protection system from SunnComm.

    BMG have stated that they intend to release more protected CDs over the year, but is carefully choosing which ones get the treatment. So far, the label has released 12 DRM-protected disks, with about 2.5 million units out in the wild.

    The disk stops PCs ripping the audio part of the disk to MP3s, but has copy-managed WMA format versions of the music on another section of the disk. This of course means that consumers are getting a lower fidelity product because the full capacity of the disk is not used to store the original music. The Windows Media files also tend to be encoded at a lower bit rate than audiophiles usually prefer. Because of the mixed format, these disks are no longer strictly CDs because they don’t adhere to Phillips’ Redbook standard for Compact Disks.

    The WMA/copy protection scheme used by MediaMax makes it all but impossible to transfer music you have legally acquired to an iPod, as Apple’s music player will not play Windows Media Files. Given that it’s the most popular music player out there, SunnComm are working with Apple to provide a solution, though this seems to be centred around petitioning Apple to incorporate other formats into the iPod rather than getting their own house in order.

    You can of course circumvent the whole copy protection scheme by simply holding down the Shift key when inserting the CD. This technically means that American readers will be breaking the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and could end up in prison.

    SunnComm

  • US Department of Justice: VoIP Fosters Crime, Drugs and Terrorism

    The US Department of Justice has hit out at the growth of voice over IP (VoIP) communications services because they make surveillance and wiretapping difficult. Not being able to listen in so easily could foster “drug trafficking, organised crime and terrorism.”The VoIP Regulatory Freedom Act

  • PSX Gets an Upgrade

    Despite disappointing sales and no release date for Europe, Sony’s PSX home media centre – a unit consisting of a home media centre, a PVR, and a PS2 – has had a couple of new models added to the range.

    The DESR-5100 has a 160mb hard drive, the DESR-7100 has a 250mb drive. Both look the same as the original PSX, though there will be a limited edition silver 5100.

    Scheduled for release on July 1, the main enhancements are related to the PSX’s DVD recording features – users can now manually set the bit rate for recording, meaning that longer movies can fit on a disk. There are also 50 templates for creating DVD menus, along with much-demanded DVD+RW/DVD-RW compatibility.

    Online PS2 capability has been improved ever so slightly – you can now browse the Central Station bulletin board – but that’s it. No online Twisted Metal Black for PSX owners then. If you have one of the older PSXs, a firmware upgrade coming along on the 15th will add all of the new features, minus the disk upgrades of course.

    The units are expected to sell for about 74,000 and 95,000 yen respectively (€562 and €722), but there is still no release for Europe and the US.

    Sony Style

  • Neilsen Report: Game Websites Provide Stickiest Content

    Websites offering online games like Solitaire and Bingo are the stickiest places on the internet, according to a new report from Neilsen//NetRatings (whatever committee thought up that cheesy // gets a slap from me).

    46 million (that’s 1 in 3) Americans visited sites like Slingo to buy and download mini-games like Crazy 7s and Amazing Snail. Slingo is now one of the stickiest sites on the internet with surfers spending an average of four hours a month playing cards and throwing turtles. Even jigzone.com, offering free online jigsaw puzzles manages to trap people for an hour and a half of picture-rearranging fun per month.

    But it’s not just playing the games, people like to read about them too – which explains why EA Online and MSN Games are so popular.

    “The diversity of online game offerings showcases the popularity of games in the U.S.,” said Kaizad Gotla, an internet analyst at Nielsen//NetRatings. “Ranging from sites that offer original games to content sites that offer the latest information on popular console and PC games, the gaming industry’s presence online is indisputable.”

    And who is it that’s playing cards, being amazed by snails and lobbing these turtles around? Middle aged American women: 15% of visitors to mini-games sites are American women between the ages of 35 and 49.

    “Contrary to popular belief, the online games category is not dominated by males or by teens,” says Gotla. “Rather, the popularity of online games appeals to a broad demographic online, especially among middle-aged women.”

    So look out for some exciting new games coming from Digital Lifestyles: first up Cat Food Challenge and Polyester Panic.

    Jigzone – strangely relaxing

    Slingo

    Neilsen NetRatings

  • Hosting Provider Pulls 3000 Blogs Without Notice

    weblogs.com, a free hosting service for bloggers, has closed 3000 sites without giving the users notice. Citing health, bandwidth, name server and other problems, the founder Dave Winer has offered to give site owners their data back next month – but the handling of the whole affair has angered many.

    Blogging has become an incredibly popular past time – so much so that Bill Gates is encouraging it at Microsoft, and the company is rumoured to be bringing out a blogging product at some point.

    Winer, now a research fellow at Harvard, found that running the service took too much time and effort, and pulled the plug.

    Scripting News – Dave’s site

    Weblogs.com

  • Microsoft Planning Paid Anti-virus Service

    In a move that is sure to be unpopular with many, Microsoft quietly let slip that it is working on an anti-virus subscription service. MS recently acquired anti-virus company GeCAD in June 2003, and this is the first sign that it is working to release a product based on its acquisition.

    Mike Nash, corporate VP for security at Microsoft said at a dinner with journalists in Seattle “I want to make sure customers have another choice. Some people will continue to use Symantic, and some will use ours.” Symantic’s share price then slid down 5% almost immediately.

    Many people are furious that Microsoft is looking to make money out of a problem that is related to the many security flaws in its products, and considered to be perpetuated by poor coding in MS software such as Outlook and Internet Explorer.

    Microsoft will have to tread carefully with this one – even if they make their product free and bundle it with Windows, thus providing maximum protection, they will probably be accused of anti-competitive practices and end up in court.

    Oh, the irony.

    Microsoft’s security site

    AVG – free anti-virus software